2,500 contract workers at Vedanta refinery jobless

A fortnight after closure of its one million tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh on December 5, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) said it will inform the Odisha labour department in two days on its plan to lay off employees.

“We have been forced to take a decision on laying off employees at our Lanjigarh plant. But the details on how many employees are to be retrenched and the people who are to be redeployed are yet to be crystallised. We will inform the state labour department in two days regarding our lay-off plan as per Industrial Disputes Act,” said Mukesh Kumar, chief executive officer, VAL (Lanjigarh).

Already 2000-2500 contractual employees engaged in bauxite loading and unloading and transportation have lost their jobs as a fall-out of the refinery closure, Kumar said.

VAL had 620 executives on its rolls of which 75 have already quit two months back on uncertainty surrounding the future of the refinery complex. “There are 550 executives left now with VAL and they are being paid salaries on time,” said Kumar.

Even in the idle state, the company has to spend about Rs 10 to 11 crore per month towards salary, electricity bill, payment to contractors, establishment cost and maintainance.

Around 6,500 people, including 550 employed directly, 5,000 engaged indirectly and 1,000 self-employed, in and around the plant depended on the VAL refinery for their livelihood. The company claimed to have spent Rs 150 crore on the development of the local area and community.

VAL’s announcement on lay-off contradicts a recently submitted report of the district labour office (DLO) -Kalahandi stating that there was no retrenchment at the company’s refinery.